Stony Brook's Dikecligil, Sullivan and UMBC's Lang Garner Week 1 Volleyball Honors

Stony Brook's Dikecligil, Sullivan and UMBC's Lang Garner Week 1 Volleyball Honors

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CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- Stony Brook senior Gulce Nazli Dikecligil (Istanbul, Turkey) stepped up for the Seawolves last week to earn America East player of the week accolades, while two freshmen took home the remaining awards. UMBC's Alyssa Lang (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) earned rookie of the week, and Stony Brook rookie Kelsey Sullivan (Hamilton, Va.) received setter of the week honors for the period ending September 1. View complete weekly release in PDF.

Dikecligil was named to the Central Conn. State Blue Devil Invitational All-Tournament Team where the Seawolves went 2-1. The senior outside hitter recorded 50 kills in three matches for 5 kills per set, first in the league over the weekend. Dikecligil hit at an attack percentage of .378 which ranks second in America East last week. She tacked on four aces and 22 digs (2.2 dps) to her tournament totals. This marks the first weekly award of her career at Stony Brook.

Lang made an impressive debut weekend for the Retrievers, leading the team with 34 kills and seven aces. The outside hitter picked up her first two double-doubles of her collegiate career Saturday in the Tribe Invitational where UMBC went 2-1. Lang was named to the All-Tournament Team for her efforts, which included a 13-kill, 10-dig performance against Appalachian State, and 17 kills and 19 digs against Eastern Michigan. She ranked as the top freshman in the league in aces, digs (2.75 dps) and kills (2.83 kps) last week.

Rookie Sullivan started all three matches for Stony Brook last week at the Central Conn. State Blue Devil Invitational. She tallied 140 assists over the weekend, ranking first in America East with 14 assists per set, and set a new school record for assists in a four-set match with 65 against the hosts. Sullivan also posted 13 digs (1.3 dps) and four aces.

America East teams went 9-13 against nonconference opponents in the opening weekend of the 2008 campaign. 

Team Notebooks:

UAlbany (0-3, 0-0 America East) kicked off the 2008 season at the San Diego State Aztec Invitational over the weekend... The Great Danes dropped the first match to #22 San Diego, 3-0, before falling to San Diego State, 3-1, and UC Irvine, 3-0... Junior outside hitter Valerie Sourbeer (Valley Center, Calif./Valley Center) led UAlbany, averaging 3.30 kills per set... She recorded a career-high 18 kills against San Diego State, adding six digs and two block assists, while posting a .359 hitting percentage... Sophomore outside hitter Amanda Cowdrey (Brampton, Ontario/Cardinal Leger) recorded 2.90 kills and 2.40 digs per set for the weekend... Cowdrey led the team with 15 kills in the season-opener against San Diego... Senior middle blocker Kamisha Kellam (Forestville, Md./Bishop McNamara) averaged 1.60 blocks per set over the weekend, finishing with 16 total blocks in the three matches... Kellam also averaged 2.40 kills per set and posted a .358 hitting percentage... UAlbany will host the first of two tournaments this season in University Gymnasium this weekend... The Great Danes welcome Connecticut, Buffalo and Wright State for the UAlbany Classic... The Great Danes will face intrastate rival Buffalo on Friday at 7 p.m. before taking on Wright State (12 p.m.) and Connecticut (7 p.m.) on Saturday.

 

Binghamton (2-1, 0-0 America East) opened its 2008 season by going 2-1 at the Hilton Garden Inn/Northern Arizona Invitational. The Bearcats swept both Rutgers (3-0) and Akron (3-0) before being stopped by Northern Arizona (0-3) in the tournament finale ... Sophomore hitters Michelle McDonough (Orland Hills, Ill./Andrew) and Anna Lejina (Riga, Latvia/Riga Secondary/U. of Latvia) were named to the NAU Invitational all-tournament team. McDonough tallied 3.38 kills and 2.00 digs per set on the weekend. Lejina, playing her first weekend with the Bearcats after transferring from the University of Latvia averaged 3.78 kills on the weekend while hitting at a .353 percentage ... Binghamton posted a blistering .393 hitting percentage against Rutgers, breaking their previous Division I record of .354. The next day against Akron, Binghamton stayed hot and hit at a .355 mark, good for the second-highest total for the program ... Senior libero Jaclyn Strader (Kettering, Ohio/ Julienne Catholic) collected 11 digs in the opener against Rutgers to break the school’s Divison I career digs record. Ashley Meffert (2003-06) previously held the record with 1,266 career digs. Strader, who entered her senior season with 1,261, finished the weekend with 29 digs to give her a career total of 1,290 ... The Bearcats will return to action this weekend at the Pitt Classic, Sept. 5-6. The squad will face Ohio and Pittsburgh on Friday and Eastern Kentucky on Saturday.

The University of Hartford volleyball team (2-1, 0-0 America East) opened the season at the Battle at the Beach hosted by UNCW in Wilmington, NC. The Hawks opened the three-match tournament with a three-set win over NC A&T (27-25, 25-14, 25-18) before dropping a four-set match to the host (25-22, 19-25, 16-25, 22-25) and a three-set match to Radford (21-25, 24-26, 13-25) ... Hallie Fullagar (Mesa, AZ/Mountain View) was named to the All-Tournament team, finishing the weekend with 24 total kills and a .294 attack percentage, tops on the team ... Erin Macro (Lincoln, RI/Lincoln) led the Hawks through the weekend with 32 total kills, while Maddison Molyneux (Caledon, Ontario/Mayfield Secondary) was second on the team with 29 kills ... Lindsay Ford (Carson, NV/Carson) returned as the team's setter and recorded 98 assists in her first weekend. She also recorded five blocks, including four in the opening match, two of which were solo blocks ... Defensively, the Hawks were led by Sarah Boss (Fremont, NH/Pinkerton Academy) who finished with 41 digs, freshman Danielle Etta (Cold Spring, NY/Haldane) finished second with 21 digs ... The Hawks will return to action next week at the Sacred Heart Tournament in Fairfield, CT ... Hartford opens the tournament with Rider on Friday, September 5 at 5:00 p.m., before meeting Bryant on Saturday, September 6, at 11 a.m. and the Pioneers at 1 p.m.

 

Maine (2-2, 0-0 America East) placed fourth in the Hilton/RTP NCCU Tournament this past weekend, going 2-2... Maine defeated Florida Gulf Coast on Friday by a count of 3-1, and UNC-Asheville on Saturday by a score of 3-2... Ashlee Wright (Muncie, Ind./Cowan H.S.) had 68 digs in the tournament...In the Black Bears’ two wins, they had 21 team blocks to their opponents’ three... Lindsay Allman (St. Louis, Mo./Rockwood Summit HS) was named to the All-Tournament team after scoring 53 kills and 53 digs in the four games.... Jessica Wolfenden (Ottawa, Ontario/John McCrae Secondary) had 176 assists in the tournament... Laura Goettsch Woodstock, Ontario/Jacksonville University) had 49 kills in the tournament to go with 34 digs... Maine returns to action on Friday as it hosts a tournament with its first game against Providence and follows that up with two matches on Saturday against Quinnipiac and Kent State.

UMBC (2-1, 0-0 America East) opened its season with a second-place finish at the Tribe Invitational in Williamsburg, Va. this past weekend. The Retrievers earned victories over Appalachian State (3-0) and Eastern Michigan (3-2), but fell to William and Mary (3-1) AE rookie of the week Alyssa Lang (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) made an impressive debut weekend for UMBC, leading the team with 34 kills and seven service aces. She tallied double-doubles in both wins including 17 kills and 19 digs against Eastern Michigan... Junior Kira Giles (Winnipeg, Canada/Glenlawn) netted two double-doubles over the weekend including 55 assists and 24 digs against the Eagles... Both Lang and Giles were named to the All-Tournament team... Sophomores Bridget Scheetz (St. Louis, Mo./Ursuline Academy) and Sabrina Hoeks (Olympia, Washington/AG West Black Hills) each had solid weekends as well, with 26 and 24 kills, respectively. Hoeks had a game-high 18 kills against only four errors in the win over Eastern Michigan... The Retrievers travel to Howard on Tuesday, Sept. 2 at 7 p.m. before hosting the UMBC Tournament this weekend on Sept. 5-6 against UMES, Niagara and Duquesne.

 

New Hampshire (0-3, 0-0 America East) dropped three matches to some elite competition at the JMU/Days Inn Invitational last weekend at Sinclair Gym on the campus of James Madison University... The Wildcats opened with a loss to James Madison (0-3: 25-20, 25-22, 25-21) on day one and dropped matches to Virginia (0-3: 26-24, 25-13, 25-12) and Murray State (2-3: 17-25, 21-25, 26-24, 25-23, 15-12) on the second day of the tournament... Junior Kirsten Bates (Calgary, Alberta/Bishop Caroll) was named to the All-Tournament team... She averaged 3.27 kills per game and 12 kills per match, while hitting at a .161 clip over the weekend... She had a match-high 15 kills in a 3-2 loss to Murray State and hit at a .321 clip against James Madison in the season opener... The youthful Wildcats had four newcomers see their first collegiate action including freshman Pauline Acres (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mira Costa), who had an impressive debut weekend leading all freshmen with 12 kills in three matches this weekend (4.0 kpm)... She had a career-high eight kills in the season opener against JMU and followed that up with four kills against Virginia and Murray State... Acres hit .375 in a loss to Virginia and had a pair of aces in that match... UNH will look for its first win of the young season this weekend at the Delaware Tournament... The Wildcats will play the host Fightin’ Blue Hens on Friday night and play Michigan State and Syracuse on Saturday.

 

 

Stony Brook (1-2, 0-0 America East) went 2-1 over the weekend at the CCSU Blue Devil Invitational... The Seawolves struggled in their first match of the season, losing to Iona in straight sets, 3-0... Stony Brook rebounded the following day, taking both of their matches, 3-0 versus Bucknell and 3-1 against Central Connecticut State University...America East player of the week senior outside hitter Gulce Nazli Dikecligil led the Seawolves offensively over the weekend, totaling 50 kills with an attack percentage of .378...Dikecligil and fellow senior Jessica Graham, who racked up 11 aces, were both named to the all-tournament team... League setter of the week rookie Kelsey Sullivan made a strong first impression, setting a new school record for assists in a four-set match with 65 against Central Connecticut State University.